Coyote Ugly
Coyote Ugly 2000, PG-13, 94 min. Directed by David McNally, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Piper Perabo, Adam Garcia, Maria Bello, Tyra Banks, John Goodman, Izabella Miko, Bridget Moynahan, Leann Rimes. Bemoaning the ever-declining standards in American cinema at this stage in the game is pointless, considering how completely saturated the market is…
Barry Lyndon
Barry Lyndon 1975, PG, 183 min. Directed by Stanley Kubrick, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Ryan O’Neal, Marisa Berenson, Patrick Magee. Ryan O’Neal has never been better cast than as the shallow and opportunistic hero of Thackeray’s early 19th-century novel. Kubrick’s detailed precision brings this morality play to life and his three-hour, visually…
Paths of Glory
Paths of Glory 1957, NR, 86 min. Directed by Stanley Kubrick, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Kirk Douglas, Ralph Meeker, Adolphe Menjou, George Macready. Kirk Douglas fights the military system in this grim depiction of French army politics during World War I. Kubrick’s film vividly depicts the harsh realities of war and remains…
Maquila: A Tale of Two Mexicos
Maquila: A Tale of Two Mexicos NR. Directed by Saul Landau, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . This new documentary by Saul Landau, the prolific and much -honored director of The Sixth Sun: Mayan Uprising in Chiapas, investigates the personal, economic, social, and environmental effects of working in the maquilas. Pushed off their…
Off the Bookshelf
Anatomies A Novella and Stories by Anndee Hochman Picador, 226pp., $18 “How did you know if your life was the one you were supposed to be living, or if you’d made a bad turn a few blocks back and ended up where you were by default?” So reads just one of many ruminations by the…
Barrel Chested Again
Chewing the fat with Brent Best of Denton tub-thumpers Slobberbone
Naked City
The University of Texas announces the finalists for the design of its new art museum (after rejecting the original design as too modern) and everyone on the list, with few minor exceptions, hews closely to the classical or neo-classical tradition.
The In Crowd
The In Crowd 2000, PG-13, 108 min. Directed by Mary Lambert, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Susan Ward, Lori Heuring, Matthew Settle, Daniel Hugh Kelly, Lorie Fortier, Ethan Erickson, Nathan Bexton. The story reads like the latest Alyssa Milano straight-to-video release: Slightly crazy girl does stint in psych ward. She gets cautiously released…
Off the Bookshelf
The Moon and Sixpence by W. Somerset Maugham Vintage, 160 pp., $11 (paper) Charles Strickland is a well-to-do, well-married, and well-behaved London stockbroker, to all appearances without a spiritual bone in his body. So when the 40-year-old Strickland deserts his wife, family, and business for Paris, convention suggests that it’s to live in opulence with…
Five Pack
Making sense out of the local country-groove merry prankster quintet Li’l Cap’n Travis
Naked City
Call them postmodern or anti-modern, but you won’t be seeing many flat roofs in the portfolios of the seven semifinalists for Blanton: The Sequel. All have experience working on university projects, and thus with regents with attitude like Rita Clements and Tony Sanchez. Demetri Porphyrios Associates: Three Brindley Place, Birmingham, England Kallmann, McKinnell and Wood:…
Local Bestsellers
Local bestsellers are based on recent sales at Austin bookstores selected to reflect varied reading interests.
Dancing About Architecture
Jimmie Vaughan loves George Bush; Jean Caffeine is back in town! hee hee…
Naked City
Mark Tschurr, former head of a successful Austin technology company, is unanimously chosen as board chairman of the Save Our Springs Alliance.
Page Two
If we must choose between avoiding conflicts of interest or writing of the community from the inside, we choose the latter.
Record Reviews
Paul Van DykOut There and Back (Mute)Sasha & John DigweedCommunicate (Kinetic) Frampton Comes Alive, Kiss Alive!, and Cheap Trick’s Live at Budokan ruled my junior high school ear with an iron fist, and while two new double-CD sets from the cream of the European trance scene are not live, they echo those bulky, effects-heavy slabs…
Naked City
A public forum over Austin Energy’s proposed “secrecy resolution,” which will allow the utility to keep some financial information under wraps in response to competition, yields plenty of discussion but little agreement.
Public Notice
Our weekly calendar of activist and volunteer events and fundraisers.
Record Reviews
Modest MouseThe Moon and Antarctica (Epic) The best art often comes from the darkest places. Flashes of hope buried in “Lives” and “3rd Planet” flicker briefly and are swallowed again by the larger, less bright truths of life and living. The good news is that, in the hands of Modest Mouse, despair makes for a…
Naked City
City representatives, neighborhood advisors, and consultants will be on hand today, Thursday, July 27, from 6:30-8:30pm, to discuss the city’s Corridor Planning Project, which aims to integrate land-use planning with transportation needs, in room 104 at Waller Creek Plaza, 625 E. 10th. Civilian oversight of the Austin Police Dept. will be the topic of this…
Second Helpings: Chinese Restaurants, Part Two
Writer Greg Beets surveys some of Austin’s Chinese restaurants.
After a Fashion
If I were going to spend $1,100 on a jacket, I’d want to feel the fabric first.
Record Reviews
The MermenThe Amazing California Health and Happiness Show (Mesa/Blue Moon) Jim Thomas is a musical savant. He might not be good at a lot of things, but the sounds he hears in his head, and his ability to capture them on tape, are genius. Picking up the guitar relatively late in life, Thomas was and…
Media Clips
KUT’s new general manager describes his vision for the future of the public radio station.
Everyone’s a Critic
The theatre community sounds off on critics as artists.
Mr. Smarty Pants
“Pthlllllt! Thwaarrrrp. Fweeephthtl?” “Yes, I agree, Mr. Smarty Pants does have some interesting facts this week.”
Record Reviews
Andrew HillDusk (Palmetto)Greg OsbyThe Invisible Hand (Blue Note) The fact that this is Haitian-born, Chicago-raised pianist/composer Andrew Hill’s first album in a decade constitutes a major event for the jazz community. But not because Dusk is going to sell a substantial number of CDs or receive much airplay on conservative jazz radio; rather, it marks…
The Edge of 17
At 21 years old, actress Charmian Carr couldn’t have known that the character she was portraying — Liesl von Trapp in The Sound of Music — would follow her for the rest of her life. Prior to her appearance at The Sound of Music: Sing-a-Long, a benefit for Project Transitions and aGLIFF, Carr opens up…
The L.A. Way
Mitchell Gossett, producing director of the well-established Los Angeles production company Bottom’s Dream, has been waging a campaign to make L.A.’s press-community relations more like Austin’s. When Gossett met Chronicle Arts editor Robert Faires at the RAT conference (a national theatre alliance) several years back, he was impressed by Faires’ description of Austin critics’ involvement…
Day Trips
The restored J.M. Koch Hotel Bed and Breakfast in D’Hannis is part of a vanishing breed of Texas frontier buildings.
Record Reviews
Dave Douglas’ Tiny Bell TrioConstellations (hatOLOGY) The trio has flourished in jazz, not just of economic necessity, but as musical muscle flexing. With less scrapping for position, the players often shine and interact with sublime grace. The Tiny Bell Trio may be only one of many modern trios active, yet in just six years and…
The Sound of Music: Sing-a-Long
“When you know the notes to sing You can sing most anything.” — Rodgers & Hammerstein, “Do Re Mi” Despite almost two decades spent pretending otherwise, I still remember the lyrics to The Sound of Music. I couldn’t tell you where I parked this morning, and I still stumble over my home phone number, but…
Articulations
A new name for the merged Paramount Theatre/State Theater Company and a new artistic director.
Coach’s Corner
While contemplating his inability to do a pull-up, Coach comes to appreciate the beauty of the Tour de France and Tiger Woods’ steady brilliance.
Record Reviews
Michael Hall & the WoodpeckersDead by Dinner (Blue Rose) Too country to be alt.rock, too rock to be alt.country, and still, we should all count our lucky stars Austin’s Michael Hall doesn’t ‘alt altogether. The Wild Seeds founder and longtime solo artist has assembled yet another fine combo in the Woodpeckers, including fellow former Wild…
TV Eye
Here, for your consideration, are the Emmy nominations for dramas, along with nominees selected by columnist Belinda Acosta for her second annual Clare Awards.
Exhibitionism
Closer: Within Fucking DistanceZachary Scott Theatre Center Whisenhunt Arena Stage, through August 13 Patrick Marber’s Closer is playing at Zach Scott, and merciful heavens but it’s so edifying to have it there, bracing and brilliantly bitter amidst the usual buffet of musical confections and uplifting personal dramas. There’s a certain British way of depicting life,…
About AIDS
Pump away: The new AIDS scare circulating over e-mail is a hoax.
Record Reviews
Cowboy NationA Journey Out Of Time (Western Jubilee/Shanachie) In the 20 years that Chip and Tony Kinman have been making music, they’ve walked their own path. From their years in the Dils, one of the original punk bands, to the prescient alt.country of Rank and File, and now with their current project Cowboy Nation, they’ve…
Short Cuts
Upcoming events and workshops of interest to the Austin film community.
Exhibitionism
The Frogs: Awkward BawdyThe Vortex, through July 29 Running time: 1 hr, 30 min The usual hazards of children’s theatre are in full effect here at VORTEX Repertory Company’s Summer Youth Theatre staging of Aristophanes’ The Frogs. One boy was talking and rustling his program so loudly that I turned and glared at him with…
Take Out the Heat
Sure, complaining about the heat only makes it worse. A long string of 100 degree days presents an unsolvable problem but it just so happens that there’s one summer problem we can solve. What to do about dinner on a day when the ambient blast furnace is stuck in the triple digits and operating any…
Record Reviews
Joni MitchellBoth Sides Now (Reprise) Most of the dozen tracks on Both Sides Now are bona fide classics by jazz or lounge standards, territory often traversed by aging Sixties and Seventies musicians. Like Joni Mitchell, who has not had to make an effort in a long time. As with her peers Bob Dylan and Paul…
Video Reviews
Boris and Natasha, The MovieD: Charles Martin Smith (1992); with Dave Thomas, Sally Kellerman, Corey Burton, Andrea Martin, Christopher Neame, Anthony Newley, John Travolta.Dudley Do-RightD: Hugh Wilson (1999); with Brendan Fraser, Sarah Jessica Parker, Alfred Molina, Eric Idle, Robert Prosky. Wossamatta with Hollywood these days? What is this big obsession with attempting to take the…
Other Voices, Other Rooms
“Sharon Bridgforth’s works aren’t meant to be read silently,” Suzy Spencer writes. “Some folks would say that’s like eating barbecue without the sauce. But if it’s good barbecue, you can do without the sauce because it has plenty of flavor on its own.”
Your Name Here
Austin is becoming famous for its local brands; Cuisines editor Virginia B. Wood reveals why.
Record Reviews
Miriam MakebaHomeland (Putumayo) While Marilyn Monroe prepared to sing “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” to JFK, Miriam Makeba was simultaneously wooing the Commander in Chief and Madison Square Garden’s 20,000 with her supremely soulful voice. That was 1962, two years after she was banned from her South African homeland for her vocal stand against apartheid. Forty…
Video Reviews
The FlintbonesD: Mad Dad Don (1992); with Ron Jeremy and a bunch of people with funny, fake porn names. Since to my knowledge there has yet to be a porno film by the name of “Cocky and Pullwankle,” fans of cartoons and pornography will have to satisfy themselves (as it were) for the time being…
The Little Press That Could
Sharon Bridgforth feels like she and Lisa Moore are in a movement together. Sharon Bridgforth is the author of the Lambda Award-winning book the bull-jean stories. Lisa Moore is the owner of RedBone Press, the publisher of the bull-jean stories. According to Bridgforth, “Lisa is … changing the face of the publishing industry, literally. So…
Food-o-File
Virginia B. Wood explains the swapping going on at the Texas Hill Country Wine & Food Festival and updates readers on local culinary news.
Under One Roof
Isn’t it about time we discarded this term “affordable housing”? Raise your hand if you think your rent or house payment is too high for what you’re getting. Uh huh. Now, who’s given serious thought to fleeing this insane real estate market and moving out of town? Maybe your hand didn’t go up, but your…
Thomas and the Magic Railroad
Thomas and the Magic Railroad 2000, G, 86 min. Directed by Britt Alcroft, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring John Bellis, Cody Mcmains, Michael Rodgers, Russell Means, Didi Conn, Alec Baldwin, Mara Wilson, Peter Fonda. “Little engines can do big things” is the nominal moral lurking in the background of this feature adaptation of…
Postscripts
Writers coming and going in Austin’s literary scene.
Liquid Assets
A new column by Chronicle wine writer Wes Marshall that spotlights affordable wine choices and offers food pairing advice to complement them.
Dusting Away the Cobwebs
In a real estate market moving as fast as Austin’s, one would think that about every lending institution in town would have its hands full of proposals for construction and home-improvement loans. But that hasn’t been the case for one, at least: the Austin Housing Finance Corporation. What, never heard of it? One would think…
But I’m a Cheerleader
Campy film is fun viewing and shines light on lipstick lesbians who are willing to put their pom-poms where their mouths are.
Book Reviews
American Rhapsody by Joe Eszterhas Knopf, 432 pp., $25.95 First things first: I will admit that the gossip is revealing (I had to take a bath after finishing this book just to remove all the dirt spilling out of its pages). The word “priapic,” so often neglected, has a starring role here. The gossip is…
No Place Like Home
All Belinda Acosta wanted was a roof over her head that wouldn’t explode into flames. Little did she know that jumping into the Austin housing market is like jumping from the frying pan into the fire.
Color of Justice
A drug bust in tiny Tulia, Texas opens up old racial wounds and raises questions about the veracity of the undercover cop-for-hire who orchestrated it all.
Beau Travail
Claire Denis’ deceptively dreamlike film about a French Foreign Legionnaire in Northern Africa
Off the Bookshelf
Little Gold Star/ Estrellita de Oro A Cinderella Cuento by Joe Hayes; illustrated by Gloria Osuna Perez and Lucia Angela Perez Cinco Puntos Press, 32 pp., $15.95 Most of us probably don’t remember Cinderella eating Mexican pan dulce and wearing a shiny gold star on her forehead, but that’s exactly what the fairy-tale maiden does…
Straight Out the Trailer
Examining the current overwhelming white trash influence in popular culture
Naked City
Council will appoint nine members to the Mueller Municipal Airport Implementation Advisory Commission; city may implement new septic tank rules; Suzanne Gamboa has left the Statesman; Brigid Shea starts a new consulting firm; UT professor Emerson Tiller has been nominated for the board of ICANN; Triangle project action postponed for a week.
Nutty Professor Ii: The Klumps
Nutty Professor Ii: The Klumps 2000, PG-13, 110 min. Directed by Peter Segal, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Jamal Mixon, Melinda Mcgraw, Anna Maria Horsford, John Ales, Larry Miller, Janet Jackson, Eddie Murphy. “Comedy isn’t pretty,” said Steve Martin during his Cruel Shoes era, and Eddie Murphy proves Martin right — again –…
